KINGSTOWN, St. Vincent, CMC—The Public Service Union (PSU) says its members at the Argyle International Airport (AIA) will take industrial action next week if the authorities do not pay outstanding monies owed to workers by April 12.
The union said it would not repeat the mistake it made a few years ago when it called off planned industrial action the night before it was due to take place.
“We recognize and realize that our failure to take action then resulted in this particular dismissal behavior, this dismissal attitude of the board and the management,” said PSU president Elroy Boucher.
“That is why I’ve said, and speaking from the perspective of the workers, that the management of AIA should be under no illusion that if this matter is not settled, there will not be disruption,” Boucher told a news conference.
“There will be disruption. Could you make no mistake about it? That mistake would not be made again.”
The PSU said that the workers are owed increments dating back to 2016. However, they have decided to forfeit the payment of the sums for 2016 to 2018.
The increment for 2019, which amounted to 1.5 percent of the workers’ salary, was paid in January 2023.
Therefore, the union said it expected the retroactive component for the years 2020, 2021, and 2022, estimated at EC$40,000 (One EC dollar = 0.37 cents), to be paid and that it has sent “numerous letters and held numerous meetings” with the AIA’s management for four years, but the situation remains unresolved.
Boucher said that once commenced, the industrial action would continue until “this grievously outstanding matter is settled,” as the union was still paying the price for its decision to stand down.
“The workers have held us accountable for such a decision up to today because they were unhappy. They believe that because we called off that action, that is why the AIA is behaving the way it is,” Boucher said.
He said that a few years ago, the union decided to call off the planned industrial action after a conversation with Ken Young, the then chair of the airport’s board of directors.
“We never got anything from calling off that action. We were told that ‘we would find a solution.’ There was none. So, we called off the action and got nothing in return—absolutely nothing. That made the workers so angry: their situation remained the same.”
He said that the non-payment of the increments was just one of the “quite vexing” issues affecting the airport.
However, “all of the workers,” including junior and senior aviation security officers, supervisors, plumbers, and electricians, are affected by the wage matter. Boucher said he is confident about the success of planned industrial action on Monday and Wednesday.
“The guarantee is the workers’ word. And they were very unhappy with our failure to take action a few years back because, as they have said, they continue to blame us.”
He said the union had briefed the workers on the “usual” union-busting tactics.
“What normally happens in those cases is a call to party politics. So, you will hear that union leadership is political, something of that nature. ‘So don’t bother with them because they only do this because of partisan politics. Maybe they’re on the other side and want to make the government look bad.’
“And we have made it clear to the workers that such an attempt will be made. But this matter is not political in the sense of partisan politics,” Boucher said.
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